Red Star over Russia: A Revolution in Visual Culture 1905-55

Fascinating exhibition at Tate Modern looking at the visual culture which emerged in the wake of the Russian Revolution.

At the heart of this show was a wonderful timeline of Russian history from 1905 to the death of Stalin using mass produced images and photographs to tell the story. From a women’s magazine with a picture of the Tsarina and her children, through an exercise book celebrating 10 years since the Revolution to a photograph of Stalin’s lying in state.

The show looked at collecting as it was based on the collection of David King which was purchased by the Tate in 2016. King was a graphic designer, photographer and historian, who collected art and ephemera from Russia in this period. His collecting saved much of this material which otherwise would have been discarded.  

I did a course recently on this period of Russian art and it was really interesting to see the names of the artists we studied appearing as designers as well as artists. I was fascinated in the pictures of the Agitprop train which travelled round the country in the early years of the revolution to spread the message through art and literature. Also the section on the 1937 International Exposition of Art and Technology in Modern Life in Paris then the Russian and German pavilions faced each other across the Seine. It was lovely to see the studies for the murals for the Russian pavilion by Deineka.

It was also poignant to see mugshots of prisoners from the Gulag camps including some of the artists who had been featured earlier in the exhibition. The information boards telling their stories were so interesting; each one could have been a novel.

Closed on 18 February 2018

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